Physiological processes generally involve complex chemical and physical processes which have an electrical aspect. These electrical-based processes generate specific and measurable minute magnetic fields which are a function of the electrical field. The basic complex magnetic field structures associated with natural physiological processes are representative of those processes. One of the natural physiological processes is the so-called “healing process,” which is a complex make-up of all chemical and physical interactions as directed by the body's natural repair mechanisms. There is a measurable difference between the complex magnetic field emanating from an injured or diseased body part and a normal body part.
It has been recognized in the prior art that the application of a magnetic field to a diseased or injured area of the body can have therapeutic and/or curative effects. Oscillating magnetic fields have been used for years in the course of administering physical therapy to clinic patients suffering from bone fractures. Such devices, known as bone growth stimulators, have proven useful in medical applications to enhance the repair and growth of bone tissue. The device signals, however, are a series of pulses or oscillating waves, which have symmetry typical of electronic-generated signals. More recently, researchers have discovered that the body emits its own complex electromagnetic field pattern. These patterns are associated with some type of stress, or action, such as a bone fracture as well as normal biologic processes. Researchers have theorized since the late 1960's that the information content of a magnetic field waveform is received and recognized by the body (if delivered in a specific manner). It is now believed possible to configure pulsing waveforms and static magnetic fields for an expected biological effect. Weak Time-Varying and Static Magnetic Fields: From Mechanisms to Therapeutic Applications, Arthur A. Pilla, Department of Orthopedics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y. 10029.
Other studies have also reached this conclusion: “In the past few years a new and fundamentally different approach has been increasingly investigated. This includes the use of magnetic fields (MF), produced by both static (permanent) and time-varied (most commonly, pulsed) magnetic fields (PEMFs). Fields of various strengths and frequencies have been evaluated. There is as yet no gold standard. The fields selected will vary based on experience, confidence, convenience and cost. Since there does not appear to be any major advantage to any one MF application, largely because of the unpredictability of ascertaining the true underlying source of the pain, regardless of the putative pathology, any approach may be used empirically and treatment adjusted based on the response.” Pain Management With Pulsed Electromagnetic Field Treatment (PEMF), William Pawluk, Md., MSc Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, March 2003.
Biologic waveforms have also been associated with specific physical injuries. These waveforms are speculated to have an association with the body's natural healing processes. By capturing these patterns, storing and re-admitting these patterns to the target patient, researchers theorize that the normal “healing process” may be restored more effectively, as the patterns would be natural biologic patterns. The body also emits certain natural biologic waveforms that are associated with the normal health biological function. The natural biologic waveform of the patient target pathology and the patient injury-free target are expected to differ in certain characteristics. In fact, Romanian researchers have reported in the literature that these signals do indeed exist and can be isolated. What is unique about the device described herein is that the unique patterns are used as the delivery content for the therapy session, as opposed to the usual patterns generated in the laboratory. What is described herein is a method of delivering precise magnetic field patterns which agree with the body's own natural magnetic field patterns, and do so with an instrument capable of routine therapy use.
Natural magnetic field waveforms have been discovered associated with biologic processes ever since the development of the SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device). The SQUID is an extremely sensitive instrument for imaging localized magnetic fields. In conventional techniques for measuring biomagnetic fields, the plane of a detection coil connected to a SQUID is disposed in parallel to the body surface to measure the magnetic field B(x,y,z), as expressed in the Cartesian coordinate system. Results of the biomagnetic field measurement are displayed in the form of a temporal change waveform of the measured field component or an isomagnetic field map (contour map).
Most prior art devices for generating therapeutic magnetic fields do so by energizing a coil with a current signal having a regular pulse rate and symmetrical characteristics, usually a: square wave or a sinusoid. A different approach which involves naturally occurring electrical fields is disclosed in Kraus, U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,151 for “An Apparatus for Promoting Healing Processes,” which teaches the use of a function generator for producing current characteristics which are copied from physiological variations in the human body. Kraus therefore recognizes the value of generating therapeutic magnetic fields by replicating naturally occurring electrical signals in the body. However, Krauss refers to replicating the rhythm of mechanical functions, such as the movement of the ribs when breathing, not patterns of localized magnetic fields at a given site on the order of 10−7 Gauss. Kraus does not teach a process of deriving a refined repair signal for a given injury type to generate a magnetic field based on localized magnetic fields measured from selected test subjects. Notably, the technology to measure such fields was not simply available at the time the Kraus patent issued. Thus, what is lacking in the prior art is a method of using state of the art technology to capture natural magnetic field patterns from the body, and deriving interpolative signals between injured and healthy magnetic field patterns, which can then be directed to injured areas for therapeutic effect. The method of the present invention includes steps of the identifying, extracting, isolating characteristics of magnetic fields emanating from both healthy and injured or diseased portions of the body and then delivering those magnetic field patterns which have a therapeutic effect, and enables the use of natural biologic magnetic field waveforms in the generation and delivery of magnetic fields suit for treatment of a particular injury or disease.